When considering whether, and how, to move your restaurant to a new location, you will have a lot to think about. You may find that you cannot renew your lease in your current location, or you may have decided that you’ll be more successful in another building, but you’ll need to consider all the aspects of relocation before making your move. The biggest challenges of moving your restaurant involve the location, the timing, and the logistics of the move itself.
Choosing a Location
The challenge of choosing a location involves a number of factors, including whether you want to keep your existing customers. One of the biggest challenges of moving your restaurant, finding the right location is a matter of determining what will work best for your target market. You will need to understand the people that are going to impact your business the most, your customers.
An experienced restaurant owner of a growing establishment that recently relocated in Colorado advises that one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to rely too heavily on traffic counts when determining the best location for your restaurant move. In the real estate world, it’s easy to say that a million cars drove by this location today. But how fast were they going? Is there parking on the street? Is the sidewalk wide enough to have a family with a stroller and other people walking side by side?
Depending on the type of restaurant you own, traffic can mean different things as it relates to your potential customer base. For example, if there are a million cars going by and you own a fast-casual drive-thru burger restaurant, that’s probably an amazing spot. However, if your restaurant is more of a sit-down, neighborhood place, a million cars going by at 65 miles per hour probably hurts you more than it helps.
Timing it Right
When moving your restaurant, you will have downtime. The key is to time the move to minimize the downtime and to be back up and running in your new location with the least amount of disruption to your customers, your staff, and your business.
Think about your least busy times. Are you only open for lunch and dinner? Are you closed on Mondays? The challenge will be finding enough time when you are not open, or when your customer traffic is typically the lowest, and when your team can realistically help complete your move. Late night hours or early morning hours might be the best time for the restaurant itself but may prove challenging for the people involved, especially if they have already worked a full shift.
Informing Customers
Timing is also a factor in determining how and when to inform your customers of your move. You will want to let your current customers know about your new location, of course, but not confuse them or have them think they cannot dine in your current location before you move. Changing your social media profiles and website information too far in advance may cause concern among your current customers. It’s best to change that information right before the opening of your new location.
When it’s the right time to make the announcement, you can send a press release to local media, print out flyers to distribute in your current location and in your new area, send out news emails, and post on your social media sites. Be sure to indicate your current location’s closing date, your new location’s opening date, and any days during your move when you will not be open at either location.
Moving Your Restaurant’s Contents
Of course, one of the biggest challenges of moving your restaurant involves the logistics and the actual moving of your restaurant’s contents. You have tables, chairs, bar stools, kitchen equipment, supplies such as cutlery and dishes, and electronics to move. You will need a professional team of movers who will handle them all with care to avoid any damage and to ensure you can get up and running in your new location quickly. Moving your restaurant is a huge task and one that you should not attempt to do on your own!
Call Fox Moving & Storage Chattanooga for Help Moving Your Restaurant
At Fox Moving and Storage Chattanooga, we have the experience and the expertise you need to move your restaurant safely and efficiently, with minimal downtime for your business. When you are ready to move, our professional movers are ready to help you. We will protect your restaurant’s contents and move them with care. We can also help you plan your move, to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible for you and your team. Call us at 423.451.8584 for a free, no-obligation quote!